A Homer man rescued a pair of eagles that fell from the sky into his front yard after they became entangled during a tussle Sunday.
Dan Cole was at home watching television when the eagles flew overhead. Soon it became apparent that the animals weren't mating, but fighting, he said.
"They were going at it," Cole said, "when the one eagle hooked the other with his talons and they fell."
They plummeted from the sky, landing in a pond in Cole's front yard.
"One was really locked into the flesh of the other one's leg," Cole said. They were unable to separate, so he went outside to help.
Cole and his wife have both worked with large bird rescues in California, Cole said, but even though he has experience handling great blue egrets and pelicans, "eagles are a little more dangerous than those birds … they're extremely strong," he said.
Cole said he was cautious as he approached the birds, pulling the talons out and releasing them.
Afterwards, the "aggressive bird" that swims away at the end of the video went to the far end of the pond, shook off, and flew away within minutes. The injured eagle walked up the yard and sat for a few more minutes before it, too, flew away.
Cole's wife filmed the incident, and he posted it online the next day.